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The Severance writer and cast on corporate cults, sci-fi, and more

Cult documentaries, science fiction classics are named as the show’s influences.

The first season of Severance walked the line between science-fiction thriller and Office Space-like satire, using a clever conceit (characters can’t remember what happens at work while at home, and vice versa) to open up new storytelling possibilities. After watching the first six episodes of season two and speaking with the series’ showrunner and lead writer, Dan Erickson, as well as a couple of members of the cast (Adam Scott and Patricia Arquette), I see a show that’s about more than critiquing corporate life. As a longtime Star Trek fan, I found an aesthetic parallel in Severance: the characters are always traversing nondescript corridors, akin to those on the USS Enterprise (but much more unsettling).

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